Belt-fastener clinching apparatus



Feb. 16, 1937. c. E. DRAYcoTT BELL FASTENER CLINCHING APPARATUS Filed April 5, 1935 Patented Feb. 16, 1937 UNITED STATES PTE?? @FMCE Charles Edward Draycott, Salford, England, as signor to W. T. Nicholson 8a Clipper Co. Ltd.,

Salford, England Application April 5, 1935, Serial No. 14,811 In Great Britain July 7, 1934 2 Claims.

This invention refers to apparatus as used for clinching fasteners to the end of a machine belt or the like, and of the kind adapted to be placed in a vice and to clinch the fasteners under the action of the jaws of the vice.

In such known fastener-climbing apparatus, a pair of presser bars is used, carried at the eX- tremities of a one-piece U-shaped, spring-metal holder, the bars being held apart by the elasticity of the holder, and forced together in the act of clinching the fasteners into a belt by the jaws of the work-holding vice, the fasteners being supported by a carrier connected to the bend of the holder.

In use, such apparatus does not always clinch the fasteners evenly, the ends of the fasteners on one side of the belt not penetrating to the same depth as those on the other side, or not lying in the same relative positions on the two faces of the belt, this being due to the presser bars not moving uniformly in relation to the fasteners, and to the fastener carrier being liable to change its position relatively to the presser bars as the latter close in on the fasteners.

The object of this invention is a construction of such type of clinching apparatus in which the same relative positions of the presser'bars to the fastener carrier is always the same, and in which the possibility of the fastener carrier changing its position relatively to the presser bars is reduced to a minimum, or entirely eliminated.

According to the invention, the improved fastener or like clinching apparatus comprises the usual, or a like pair of parallel presser bars, but the bars, instead of being carried by a U-shaped holder, are carried by separate vertical and parallel plates. Arranged centrally between the plates is the fastener carrier, and connecting the plates and fastener carrier together are means whereby the plates may be moved towards and away from each other, while always maintaining the same positions relatively to the fastener carrier with each degree of movement, springs being provided to hold the plates normally at the furthest distance apart, and means being also provided to limit such separation.

With the belt to which the fasteners are to be applied placed vertically :between the presser bars, after mounting the apparatus, between the jaws of a vice, and with the vice then caused to close, the presser bars approach each other with an even movement, or at least, the fastener carrier maintains a position in a plane equidistant from the presser bars, and their carrier plates, so that with fasteners lying in the grooves of such carrier, and the belt lying between the upstanding arms of the fasteners, the final tightening up of the vice will cause the fasteners to be driven home with an equal force and engage the belt equally from opposite sides.

The improved clinching apparatus is illustrated on the accompanying drawing, wherein:-

Fig. l. is an end View,

Fig. la is a cross section of the lower part of the fastener carrier.

Fig. 2 a top plan, and

Fig. 3 an inverted plan.

Fig. Llis a further end View, but showing the position of the parts after the presser bars have been forced together to clinch the row of fasteners into a belt.

As shown a', a, are the presser bars, and b, b the presser-bar plates carrying such bars, the bars being fixed to the plates by screws c and holding between them parts of the flanges d by which the apparatus is supported upon the jaws of a vice.

e is the fastener-holding block having a plurality of open-ended transverse grooves in its top face7 one for each fastener, which latter lies with its limbs extending upwards (see Fig. l.)

f1, f2 are two pairs of links below the block e, and presser-bar carrying plates b, b, one link of each pair being pivoted at one end to the underside of one of the presser-bar carrying plates b, and the other link of each pair being pivoted to a block g, slidably mounted in an elongated chamber e2, (see Fig. la) formed in the underside of the block e, the pivot pins passing through slots g1 in a cover plate g, see Fig. 3 and being fixed to the blocks y.

h1, h2 are round rods secured to the presser-bar carrying plates b, b and projecting horizontally through holes in the block e, said rods serving to guide the plates as they move towards and away from each other. z', i are the springs (encircling the rods h1, h2) which normally serve to hold the presser bars a, a, and presser-bar carrying plates b, b at their furthest distance apart, see Figs. 1 to 3, said springs being preferably conical.

Pins lc act as stops to limit the outward movements of the blocks g and consequently those of the presser bars a, a. The grooved block e has the usual long pin l lying in a central longitudinal groove, and held to the block and in the groove by its free end passing through a hole in a raised part e1 at one end, and by a foldedback part Z1 of the pin below its handle end, engaging a hole in the end of the block e. Said pin is usually chained to one of the side plates by a short length of chain.

In using the apparatus, it is rst placed between the jaws of a vice, the anges d resting on the top face of the jaws. Fasteners are then (or previously) placed in the grooves of the block e, which occupy the position shown in Fig. 1. The end of theV machine belt is then lowered into the space within the arms and inturned ends of the fasteners, after which the two bars a, a are forced by the vice against the fasteners, which, under the pressure, enter the belt and become xed thereto, the pressure being uniform and the extremities of the fasteners extending a uniform distance into the belt from both sides. After thus clinching the fasteners, the pin Z is withdrawn from the block e, thereby leaving a space between the end of the belt and the bends of the fasteners, which forms the necessary looplike formation for connection by a lace or pin, to the fasteners xed in like manner to the other end of the same belt, or that of another belt.

Fig. 4 shows the position of the parts after the presser bars a, a have been moved towards each other in clinching the fasteners.

What I claim is:-

1. Belt-fastener clinching apparatus comprising a pair of presser bars disposed edge on, a pair of separate presser-bar carrier plates, a beltfastener holding block lying centrally between the said carrier plates, and said block having an elongated recess in its lower part, a slotted plate xed to the lower face of the block, a pair of slide blocks slidably movable Within the block recess, pairs of links below the belt-fastener holding block and each link pivotally connected at one end to one of the presser-bar carrier plates, whilst at its other end it is connected by a pivot pin to its companion link, such common pivot pin of the two links of each pair extending upwardly through one of the slots of the said slotted plate and engaging one of the said slide blocks, springs and spring-guiding means between the presser-bar carrier plates and the belt-fastener holding block whereby the said carrier plates are normally held separated, and pins within the said recess of the belt-fastener holding block for limiting the degree of said separation, as herein set forth.

2. Belt-fastener clinching apparatus as claimed in claim l, wherein the belt-fastener holding block has through horizontal holes, wherein the presser-bar carrier plates each have rods extending from them and telescopically through the said holes, and wherein the springs for holding the presser-bar carrier plates apart and the beltfastener holding block central thereto encircle the said rods and contact at their ends with the said plates and block, as herein set forth.

CHARLES EDWARD DRAYCOTT. 

